Use psychology to convert more landing page visitors

Marketing is all about understanding people. You can’t create engaging content marketing if you don’t know what engages your audience. The same goes for landing pages. You can’t create converting landing pages if you don’t know what makes your audience tick, and click.

Understanding human behavior can help you convert more landing page visitors into leads - whether you want visitors to download your content, sign up for a free trial or redeem a coupon. In this blog post we show you how 3 principles of psychology can help you turn visitors into leads and eventually, paying customers.

The Zero Price Effect

According to Dan Ariely in his book, Predictably Irrational, people behave differently when they see the magic four-letter word: free. When faced with a decision, we often choose the free option, regardless of its economic value. In fact, when something is free we put more value on it. Why? Because there’s no risk involved.

Recently, we A/B tested two calls-to-action on one of our white paper landing pages. Guess which one got the most clicks?

Call-to-Action Button A: Download our Whitepaper

Call-to-Action Button B: Download our free Whitepaper

Reciprocity

Dr. Robert Cialdini first introduced the concept of “reciprocity” in his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Simply put, if someone does something for you, you will naturally do something in return. When it comes to marketing, Cialdini’s principle can help you convert landing page visitors into leads. All you have to do is give away something for free before asking for personal information. How about offering visitors a demo of your product or a free trial of your service?Prospects who accept your free offer will be more likely to reciprocate with their email address.

Offering free trials or demos also comes with an extra benefit. Potential customers usually want proof that your product works before making a purchase decision. Letting your customer “try before you buy” can ease any concerns your customer might have (if your product is good of course).

Social Proof

We’re back with Cialdini again. According to the doctor of persuasion, social proof is all about following the herd. It’s the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something. It’s when we think a shop is popular because there is a long queue of people waiting to go in.

In marketing, the power of social proof cannot be underestimated if these three facts are anything to go by:

Over 70% of Americans say they look at product reviews before making a purchase.

Nearly 63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings or reviews.

On your landing page you can entice more people to click with the following tricks:

Show the number of social shares

Include testimonials or notable clients. Presenting a customer success story (even if it’s only a few lines) on your landing page will get more people to trust your product

In the end, you should always understand and give your customers what they want before asking for something in return. Next time you’re creating a landing page, make sure you keep these three psychological principles in mind to turn visitors into paying customers.

Click below to see an example of a landing page that Cialdini himself would approve.